The present invention relates to the integration of prerecorded video into video games.
Video games provide fun and enjoyment for many. Video games allow users to participate in a variety of simulated activities, including those that the users may not be able or desire to experience directly. Video games receive interactive inputs from users and may produce vibrant visual displays with accompanying audio.
Typically, video game characters, scenes, and objects are generated using 2D and/or 3D graphics rendering techniques involving, for example, sprites, vectors, and/or 3D models. Recorded video, including pre-recorded live-action video clips or pre-rendered animation sequences, generally have not been prominently used in most video games, except in two limited circumstances.
First, recorded video has been used for game-related cut-scenes and cinematic sequences. These cut-scenes and cinematic sequences are typically used outside of a video game's actual gameplay and mainly serve to advance the video game's plotlines. Second, recorded video has been used in video games that are sometimes referred to as interactive movies or full-motion video games. These games consist of videos depicting varying plotline branches for a main story. The videos are typically stored on optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and Laserdiscs and played in conventional media players. During playback of the videos, a user is prompted to make certain selections at predetermined times in the playback. The selections are then used to alter the playback sequence of the various plotline branches.
These limited attempts at integrating recorded video into video games suffered from various drawbacks, including the lack of immersive interactivity with the recorded video. Cut-scenes and cinematic sequences typically were separate from actual gameplay, and the user had little or no control during their playback. In addition, choosing a path at a branch-point in an interactive movie—which typically resulted in the playback of one of only a very small number of plotline branches offered very restrictive gameplay when compared to the freedom of choices and actions given a user in traditionally-rendered video games.
Another problem with previous attempts at integrating recorded video into video games was the recorded video's lack of dynamic response. While various plotline branches could be played based on user selection, the video played in response to a particular sequence of user selections was static. The recorded video did not dynamically react to gameplay events and user performance.